Eric Wyrick and Jonathan Spitz talk Brahms double concerto
NJSO musicians have often said that having their colleagues on stage as featured soloist makes for a truly special experience. At four concerts this week, they'll have a doubly special experience, as both Concertmaster Eric Wyrick and Principal Cello Jonathan Spitz take center stage in Brahms' Concerto for Violin and Cello.
The Times of Trenton chatted with Wyrick and Spitz about their shared history and the thrill of performing the double concerto together:
Wyrick and Spitz have parallel histories that predate and coincide with their tenures with the NJSO. They are both longtime members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with Spitz now one of its artistic directors and Wyrick now on the board of trustees. Both are founding performers at the Bard Music Festival, held every summer at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
"Eric and I have been playing together – playing chamber music, playing as co-principals of orchestras – for easily the last 30 years," Spitz says. "One of the great joys of playing with him, for me, is how we are able to anticipate what the other is going to do, even before he knows he's going to do it. I feel like we have that same kind of intuition, as far as anticipating each other's musical instincts."
The musicians' families have grown close, as well, especially through so many summers spent together. Their children went on to attend Bard as students. "Those connections and the joy in making music together run deep," Spitz says.
Spitz joined the NJSO in 1984, at the time the orchestra's youngest member. He became principal cello in 1991. Wyrick, previously concertmaster of the American Symphony, joined the NJSO in 2000.
"Basically we've known each other our entire adult lives," Wyrick says. "We're almost like brothers, because we've played together so much, between the symphony and Orpheus and the Bard Festival, which we've done together for the past 25 years. We have children the same age. They're very good friends."
When asked how he feels about the concerto, Wyrick says he regards all of Brahms' works as treasures. "It's such an unusual piece," he says. "It's such a personal expression. It just makes you love music."
Wyrick and Spitz also reflected on the concerto with program-notes writer Laurie Shulman. Shulman writes:
Brahms composed the Double Concerto for Joseph Joachim and Robert Hausmann. He knew both men well and had great respect for their musicianship as soloists and ensemble players. Joachim was the founding violinist of the Joachim Quartet, one of Europe’s most distinguished and respected ensembles. Hausmann joined the quartet as cellist in 1878. Having played chamber music together for a decade, the two soloists had an uncanny rapport that they brought to the new concerto.
NJSO Concertmaster Eric Wyrick and Principal Cello Jonathan Spitz share a similar bond; they have been performing together for 30 years. “The opportunity to play this concerto with a musician I know so well and respect so deeply is very gratifying for me,” says Spitz. Wyrick comments, “I studied this concerto with my brother, who is a cellist, but I have only performed it with Jonathan, who could be another brother, for all the professional space and regard that we have shared over the years.”
Wyrick regards the Brahms Double as a cello concerto with a violin complement: “My early impressions of the concerto centered on my excitement upon hearing the opening cello cadenza and the passion of the second movement unison melody. The full voice G-string sound on the violin, supporting the lower cello timbre, creates a stirring effect. I have always considered the violin part as a complement to the cello, because the opening cello cadenza is so bold and riveting. That impression is dispelled as the work progresses by alternating passages between violin and cello: imitation, call and response, unison melodic playing, all are employed by Brahms to keep both players quite busy throughout!”
Spitz acknowledges that the cello can be at a disadvantage when playing with violin, especially in the lower register: “We definitely have less volume in that low range. This concerto shows that Brahms had a magnificent understanding of the soloistic possibility of the cello. He treats both soloists similarly in all his concertos, in the sense that the solo parts weave through the orchestra texture, often playing beautiful arpeggiated accompaniments to the melodic lines—or with those roles reversed. It’s almost as if he doesn’t distinguish between the soloist and the orchestra: one texture includes both.”
Wyrick and Spitz share a soft spot for the slow movement, from its glorious opening unison theme to the spellbinding close. “The ending of the slow movement is absolutely sublime,” declares Spitz. “The last minute or so is some of the most memorable music Brahms wrote.”
Both of them have played Brahms’ orchestral and chamber music their entire lives. Revisiting the Double Concerto has altered their perspective. Spitz explains: “Whereas I used to regard Brahms as a romantic, what I’ve come to appreciate even more is the way that his romanticism is contained within this sense of classical structure. It’s the combination of those two elements that separates him from the other great composers. As a Brahms interpreter, I need to keep both those aspects of his personality in clear view.”
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